Three days later, the sun was high up in the sky.
Han Li's figure reappeared on the White Stone Plaza.
At this moment, his eyes were extremely clear, and both the immortal spiritual power in his dantian and the power of his spiritual sense had been adjusted to their peak state.
He looked around before raising a hand and sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a bolt of golden lightning, which then faded to reveal Daoist Xie.
Daoist Xie appraised Han Li with a faint smile, and said, "You seem to be in high spirits, Fellow Daoist Han; it looks like you've made some progress in your cultivation base. Congratulations."
"I have indeed made some progress.
It's been several centuries since I've been here, and I don't know what the situation is like outside. Today, I plan to make another attempt to break through to the Golden Immortal stage to see if I can leave this place as soon as possible.
Even though this space is sealed off, there are still many unforeseen risks involved in making a breakthrough, so I'll have to trouble you to stand guard for me, Fellow Daoist Xie, "Han Li said with a smile.
"Don't worry," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
As soon as he finished speaking, golden lightning flashed around his body. His body swayed, and his entire body merged into the void, disappearing without a trace.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he sat down with his legs crossed.
He flicked his wrist, and a burst of azure light appeared before him, revealing three or four white jade porcelain bottles and an intricate jade box.
He waved his hand through the air, and the stopper of one of the jade bottles flew off on its own, revealing a faint golden pill the size of a longan.
This was none other than the Myriad Rotation Pill that he had refined to assist late-stage True Immortal cultivators in improving their cultivation bases.
Han Li picked it up and placed it into his mouth before swallowing it.
As soon as the pill entered his stomach, its medicinal power immediately spread out, turning into a warm current that flowed into his meridians. However, compared to the strong impact he felt when he first took the pill, it had already become much more gentle.
On one hand, this was due to the fact that he had consumed too many of these pills, and on the other hand, his physique had undergone a significant change after reaching the greater success stage of the Great Heavenly Star Art. His flesh, tendons, and bones had all been strengthened to a certain extent, making them far more powerful than before.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he flicked his finger, and two more Myriad Rotation Pills shot forth before being swallowed into his stomach.
Then, he closed his eyes, formed a hand seal, and began to silently cultivate.
Along with the sound of chanting, a layer of gentle golden light appeared on the surface of his body and enveloped his entire body.
Time passed by slowly, and before he knew it, over a decade had passed.
Come to think of it, regardless of whether it was the 500 years that Han Li had spent cultivating the Great Heavenly Star Art or the past decade, the ruins of this city seemed to have remained the same as when he had first arrived.
Although it also experienced the sun and moon rising and setting in the east and the wind and clouds flowing, it never saw the change of seasons, the vegetation withering and flourishing. Even the slippery moss that could be seen everywhere in the city always maintained its dark green color.
On the edge of the city, Daoist Xie stood on the eaves of a three-story bamboo pavilion. His robes were flapping violently in the gusts of wind, but he remained completely still like a statue as he faced the city.
"We're finally here …" At this moment, he suddenly opened his mouth and slowly said.
Boom!
As soon as his voice trailed off, a resounding boom erupted from the center of the city, causing the entire ruins of the city to tremor violently.
A golden beam of light suddenly shot up into the sky, shooting straight into the clouds beyond the Nine Heavens.
In the sky above the plaza, layers of dark clouds converged from all directions, tumbling and surging violently.
Not long after, these dark clouds turned into a vortex of dark clouds with a diameter of dozens of miles. As the vortex spun, there were flashes of lightning, as if there were countless ferocious beasts imprisoned in it, letting out muffled roars.
Han Li sat within the golden pillar of light with his clothes in tatters, and there seemed to be a layer of golden film over his lean muscles. His hair was standing on end, and he looked like a furious Buddhist Buddha.
All 35 of his unlocked immortal apertures were radiating bright light, and a golden vortex was condensing within the 36th immortal aperture at the center of his chest, which was only a sliver away from being completely unlocked.
"He…"
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly opened his eyes, and he let loose an earth-shattering roar.
The vortex in front of his chest immediately began to revolve violently, and wisps of spirit Qi of heaven and earth that were visible to the naked eye immediately surged toward his aperture.
"Whoosh whoosh…"
There seemed to be a whistling wind pouring in, and the aperture was like a vast gully, as if it could not be filled at all. It continuously absorbed the spirit Qi of heaven and earth from all directions to strengthen itself.
Han Li's expression was solemn, and he did not relax at all. His hands were constantly making hand gestures, guiding the direction of the spirit Qi while carefully controlling the speed of absorption of the immortal aperture to prevent it from being damaged due to unstable foundation.
After about an hour, the speed of the spirit Qi of heaven and earth slowly slowed down, and the light on the aperture became brighter and brighter, and gradually stabilized.
At this moment, Han Li was already sweating profusely, but he still refused to relax his hand gestures. He was always careful, in case of any unexpected changes.
Suddenly, there was a loud rumble in the sky.
The dark clouds and thunder that had been suppressed for a long time finally erupted, and a black lightning pillar that was as straight as a spear pierced the clouds and smashed down toward Han Li.
Han Li's heart stirred as he raised a hand, and a fist that was enshrouded in starlight viciously lashed out toward the sky.
"Peng, peng, peng, peng, peng, peng"
Seven punches in a row!
Seven starlight fist projections that were several tens of feet in size flew up like lightning, releasing rings of starlight that linked the seven fist projections together to form a dazzling silver light barrier.
The black lightning pillar pierced straight down and directly smashed into the silver light curtain, causing a deafening explosion.
The silver light barrier trembled violently, and countless stars shattered and were annihilated. The entire silver light barrier dissipated, and in particular, a large hole was blasted open in the area that had been struck by the lightning pillar.
At the same time, an even louder rumble rang out from the dark cloud vortex in the sky. As if it had been infuriated, a black lightning pillar that was twice as thick as before tore through the clouds once again and smashed down.
Daoist Xie looked on from afar with golden lightning flashing through his eyes, and he disappeared in a flash.
In the next instant, he appeared between Han Li and the lightning pillar with golden lightning revolving around his body, and he suddenly raised a hand to meet the golden lightning pillar head-on.
A layer of golden lightning suddenly appeared on his arm, and his entire hand transformed into a massive golden crab pincer that clamped down on the black lightning pillar.
Kacha!
A shocking thunderclap resounded, and the golden lightning shot out. The black lightning pillar was immediately split into two and suddenly burst open.
It then transformed into a ball-shaped cage of lightning that enshrouded Daoist Xie's entire body.
"Crap…"
Daoist Xie let loose a cry of surprise as he made a grabbing motion toward the outside of the cage again.
However, it was already too late.
Outside the ball-shaped electric cage, black light shone in all directions, and black electric ropes as thick as an arm shot out, sweeping in all directions, causing the surrounding void to tremble and crackle.
One of the black lightning whips struck Han Li's back in a seemingly slow process, but it was actually quite quick.
"Sizzle ~"
A burst of black sparks erupted, and Han Li's back was instantly charred black.
His brows furrowed as he hurriedly looked down at his chest.
Within his immortal aperture that had just taken shape, a thread of black light that was as thin as a strand of hair suddenly emerged before spreading like a spider web, dyeing most of the aperture pitch-black.
Han Li's heart jolted, and his pupils contracted.
Even though he hadn't experienced it before, it was clear from this scene that the "aperture decay" of the three blights had finally arrived!
Although Han Li had already anticipated this, he still couldn't help but fall into a momentary daze when it actually happened.
Since the ancient times until now, there had been countless extraordinary cultivators that experienced ups and downs on the path of cultivation, overcame all obstacles, and coupled with various fortuitous encounters, they finally broke through the bottleneck step by step and defied the heavens to overcome the tribulation to become an Immortal. After that, they experienced countless years of tempering before finally becoming eminent from the myriad of Immortals and persisted until the peak of the True Immortal Realm.
Just as they were about to take that leap and become a Golden Immortal, the aperture decay would descend upon them, and everything that they had painstakingly cultivated would be for naught.
Rumor had it that the aperture decay was not like the previous two decays. It was swift and fierce, like a prairie fire. After one aperture decayed, it would immediately spread, and soon, the thirty over immortal apertures that the Perfected Immortal cultivators painstakingly opened were all infected, causing them to decay.
Once all the immortal apertures decayed, the body of the Perfected Immortal would also decay, and all the immortal spiritual power would dissipate. All the cultivation efforts would be in vain, and the cultivator would eventually become a cripple with no chance of making a comeback.
All of Han Li's attention was drawn to that aperture, and he could not help but feel a little uneasy. He was afraid that the immortal apertures in his body would be infected by the black threads one by one, and then they would decay one by one.
This was a very strange feeling that could not be deeply understood unless it was personally experienced.
It was as if he had painstakingly planted a green lotus, but the moment the flower bud bloomed, someone dropped a drop of fatal poison on it. The entire lotus, from the lotus heart to the petals to the roots, was infected by the poison and rapidly decayed.
Just as he was about to use the power of the Law of Time to deal with it, he realized that something was wrong.
The aperture that was half-stained with black light was still half-black and half-white, and it was not as fast as fire as described in the ancient books.